Keith Ellison Offended by Questions About Anti-Semitism

Rep. Keith Ellison (D.-Minn.), vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has been under fire from the media over his continued ties with controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

CNN’s Jake Tapper has been one of the few mainstream journalists to call out Rep. Ellison over his lies that he severed ties with Farrakhan. Even the Washington Post’s Fact Checker gave Ellison’s claims of severed ties ‘Four Pinocchios’ rating, meaning it’s pretty much a lie.

It was revealed this year that Ellison and other Democratic Party congressional representatives meet with Farrakhan after Ellison’s denouncement in 2006. A photograph was also published by a journalist where then-candidate Barack Obama posed with Farrakhan and admitted he buried it out of fear it could have derailed Obama’s political future.

Ellison recently spoke at Harvard University for Harvard Institute of Politics forum and was asked a question on anti-Semitism in the party and his ties to Farrakhan. His response was that “it’s a smear.”

“What I’m telling you is the only way Farrakhan gets in the news is if somebody tries to say, ‘Oh this black person whose whole life is dedicated to human rights met him or saw him or was in a room with him.’ It’s a smear, man. I’m sorry. It is a smear.”

“And I got to tell you it is frustrating to be pulled out and be in and it’s like it’s your daily moment to denounce anti-Semitism. We denounce it. We absolutely denounce it. We think it is reprehensible, murderous, and genocidal. And it offends me that anyone would insist that I do it one more time.”

What is missing from his remarks is whether he did meet with Farrakhan and confirm the reports in conservative media.